We’re thrilled that our Local Honey Kefir has been awarded the 2017 SPECIALTY FOOD ASSOCIATION GOLD SOFI AWARD, an honor recognizing its taste and quality. To make our kefir, we work closely with our partners at SUNRISE FAMILY FARMS, who share our focus on turning out great-tasting dairy products by using pure ingredients and keeping it simple. We start with the best local whole milk from cows cared for by outstanding local farmers and add 12 carefully selected live cultures. We then create this kefir’s delicate flavor by adding just the right amount of local honey from bees kept seven miles from the dairy, which pollinate orchards on the neighboring farms. Our kefir is pasteurized and homogenized, and we never use any artificial sweeteners, additives, thickeners, gums or stabilizers.

Like all FIVE ACRE FARMS products, our Local Kefir is sourced and produced within 275 miles and sold in retail locations and top restaurants throughout New York City and the Tri-State Region. We sell Milk, Buttermilk, Half & Half, Heavy Cream, Greek and Regular Yogurts, Cage Free Eggs, and seasonal Apple Cider. Each package specifies the farm where that batch of the product was made.

FIVE ACRE FARMS brings the best-tasting local food to grocery stores, restaurants and food shops. We find outstanding farmers using sustainable practices, pay them fairly and tell their stories. Our business helps to create new jobs, promote the local economy, expand access to local food, safeguard the environment, preserve farmland, protect groundwater, and foster proper animal treatment. We call this being “Positively Local®”. To us, that means knowing exactly where our food comes from. It means growing the region’s economy and actively participating in the community. It means restoring the connection between farmer and customer.

This recipe is more about the idea and less about which specific vegetables, lettuces or edible flowers you decide to use. It combines varying textures from the vegetables; smooth, refined and delicate sweet richness from the kefir; a wonderful balance of subtle heat from the jalapeno pepper; flavorful greens and strong meatiness from the lentils. I add a wonderful extra virgin olive oil and enough acid and salt to properly season all of this. Enjoy!

1. To cook lentils, simmer them in 2 cups of water with 1 tbsp salt until just cooked through and drain and cool. Set aside.

1. To cook lentils, simmer them in 2 cups of water with 1 tbsp salt until just cooked through and drain and cool. Set aside.

2. Wash all vegetables and cut them into desired shapes. Not all things should or need to be cut equally. Both larger and smaller chunks of tomatoes are nice to have.

3. Shave the radishes and jalapeno peppers thin enough (1/16”).

4. Blanch asparagus in boiling salted water for 15 seconds. Allow to cool before cutting into two-inch pieces.

5. Wash and dry greens with absorbent towels.

6. Drizzle a copious amount of honey kefir on your individual plates or serving platter. Separately, in a mixing bowl, add all of your greens, veggies, salt, half of the vinegar and half of the olive oil and carefully mix to incorporate and taste. Adjust the seasoning if you think it needs more of anything. In a separate bowl, add additional seasoning of oil, salt and vinegar to the lentils.

8. Add on the marigold flowers last because they are incredibly delicate.

JOHN KARANGIS — Executive Chef, Union Square Events

Early in his career while studying Fine Dining Management, John recognized his passion for cooking and was accepted as a culinary student under Chef Andre Daguin and Chef Yves Pinard in Paris. Upon returning to the United States, John landed a job in the kitchen at UNION SQUARE CAFE under Chef Michael Romano, where he cooked for three years. From there, he worked in some of the most acclaimed kitchens on the West Coast and in New York, including GRAMERCY TAVERN and SQUARE ONE in San Francisco. He then accepted the role of Executive Chef at RESTAURANT ASSOCIATES, and later at GOLDMAN SACHS, delivering world class dining and hospitality to an elite clientele. Returning to the culinary roots where his career began, today John brings his passion for excellence and hospitality to the UNION SQUARE EVENTS team.

Erin is the Executive Pastry Chef at REYNARD at Brooklyn’s WYTHE HOTEL. Happily for the sweet tooth, she has discovered a delicious home for FIVE ACRE FARMS local dairy products and cage free eggs in her inventive desserts, among them the Kefir Mousse she shares here. Growing up, Erin learned to love texture and technique baking with her grandmother and cooking with her father. A veteran of the teaching kitchen, she has taught baking and pastry at WESTERN CULINARY INSTITUTE, the CALIFORNIA CULINARY ACADEMY and the FRENCH CULINARY INSTITUTE (now the International Culinary Center). She joined the opening team at REYNARD in 2012.

1. Bloom gelatin in cold water by evenly sprinkling gelatin over the surface of the cold water, and let the powder sink into the water to hydrate. Don’t dump into water as a clump or the gelatin will not rehydrate properly. Let stand for 5 minutes to fully bloom.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and find a metal bowl that fits just over the top and traps the steam below.

3. Using that bowl, whisk together the yolks, sugar, 3 1/2 oz portion of kefir and the bloomed gelatin.

4. When pot has come to a boil, turn heat off. Place your yolk mixture bowl over top of the steaming pot and begin to whisk.

5. Whisk this mixture until it has become frothy, lighter in color and when you draw the foam on top of itself, it holds on the surface for 3 seconds.

6. Once your yolk mixture has come to a ribbon, remove from heat and transfer to a clean bowl.

KEFIR, first created more than 2,000 years ago in the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe, is a cultured milk drink that tastes like yogurt and has the consistency of a smoothie.

Our smooth, creamy LOCAL KEFIR is packed with healthy probiotics and comes in plain, maple and honey flavors. To make it, we start with the best local whole milk from cows cared for by outstanding local farmers and add 12 carefully selected live cultures. For our LOCAL MAPLE KEFIR, a 2016 SOFI AWARD FINALIST, we mix in just the right amount of pure local maple syrup, tapped from our farmers’ old stand trees, for a delicate maple flavor. Our kefir is pasteurized and homogenized, and we never use any artificial sweeteners, additives, thickeners, gums or stabilizers.

Like all FIVE ACRE FARMS products, our LOCAL KEFIR is sourced and produced within 275 miles and sold in retail locations and top restaurants throughout New York City and the Tri-State Region. We sell Milk, Half & Half, Heavy Cream, Buttermilk, Greek and Regular Yogurts, Cage Free Eggs, and seasonal Apple Cider. Each package specifies the farm where that batch of the product was made.

FIVE ACRE FARMS brings the best-tasting local food to grocery stores, restaurants and food shops. We find outstanding farmers using sustainable practices, pay them fairly and tell their stories. Our business helps to create new jobs, promote the local economy, expand access to local food, safeguard the environment, preserve farmland, protect groundwater, and foster proper animal treatment. We call this being “Positively Local®”. To us, that means knowing exactly where our food comes from. It means growing the region’s economy and actively participating in the community. It means restoring the connection between farmer and customer.